how do I collect images and annotate them in one action?

DEVONthink Scenarios
1

I apologize if this is too basic, but…

I am collecting images from the web, downloading them as I find them. I want to keep track of where I got them, and other data, like copyright status and so forth.

So far, I have only a very clumsy system:

  1. On my mac, I use the interactive menu to “Save Image As…” which puts it in whatever folder I specify.

  2. Later, I can drag the image to DTP, and make an annotation for it (Data>New from template>Annotation)

I think there must be a better way but I can’t find it in DTP.

Grateful for advice…

JS

2

You could click-hold-drag images from the browser into Sorter, or onto the DEVONthink icon in the dock, or directly into any open DEVONthink window.

3

Thanks, that simplifies the first part, and records the url with the image.

But I’d like to add other info when I drag/drop.

Often, this would mean copying and pasting some text that I would like to associate with the image.

Is there a way to do this without creating a separate annotation for each image? I tried the “Information” panel, but it lacks an appropriate field.

tks

JS

4

You can click-hold-drag text in the same way you do an image - this will create an RTF, text or HTML file depending on the text and the browser. Select that file and your image file and Data > Merge them and you’ll have an RTFD file that contains the image + the text. Sort of a self-annotating file.

There are lots of other ways to select and copy things in OS X. You could use command-control-shift-4 to select a region of the browser window that includes your picture and text and put a copy of that image on the clipboard, then toggle over to DEVONthink and use command-n to create a new document from the clipboard contents. Like this